Barn Find

[snowyt 69]

I know you all dream of a barn find, so thought I’d tell you about mine.
A couple of friends of mine were holding a contents sale for a client of theirs. This is what they do for money. One of them took me aside the other day and asked me, “What is a ’69 Mercedes convertible with a hard top and four flat tires worth? Oh. It hasn’t been started in 8 years.”
I told her I would come and have a look at it. Give her my best guess. I went the day before the sale went public. It was a lark. Jack it up, stick my finger through the frame, and figure out what it might be worth in parts.
Car is white. No ugly pools of fluid underneath. Doors open and shut. Seams are straight. None of this matters in Ontario. It is only underneath that the story is told.
Floor jack under the differential and up she goes. It is seriously cold, even by Ontario standards, given that it is late November. I am already freezing.
I crawl underneath, and despite the cob webs, the loose golf balls, tee shirts, and what not, I am taken by surprise.
The underside of the car is as solid and correct as a bank vault.
I spin the rear wheels, and they spin. Get my brother to press on the brake pedal, and they stop spinning. Hmm.
Raise the hood. Oh no! Mr. Squirrel has been living under here for a number of years. There are sunflower shells everywhere. Luckily it appears Mr. Squirrel has been well fed. He doesn’t appear to have eaten into the wiring harness. It doesn’t appear by the way. I am way too cold to do any forensic looking.
Check the dipstick. Oil is present. The expansion chamber on the rad. The fluid is still green. Squeeze hoses and they squeeze.
Teeth chattering, my brother and I figure out how to raise the convertible roof.
Oh no! Mr. Mouse has chewed a hole in it somehow. Nice blue roof before Mr. Mouse ate his hole in it. Original, as is the rest of the car. What used to be the plastic rear window is fragments of dust. Hmm.
Who would leave such a lovely car as this to simply sit and be a home for squirrels? Who would attempt to sell it, even at a garage sale, and not even bother to pump up the tires? Why would you store it, for eight years, with the ruddy top down?
Maybe if I’d been warmer or had a nice rum toddy to calm me down I could have thought clearer.
Instead, I simply bought the car.
Four flat tires. Mouse hole in the top. Sunflower seeds under the hood. Gas tank full of varnish. God knows what else.
‘69 280 SL. Automatic. No air. White on blue vinyl. 180,000 original kilometres. Engine rebuilt 10,000 kilometres ago. No bills to prove anything. European spec.
I’ll keep you posted.

 

[Cees Klumper]

Great story! I hope you warmed up again, I am feeding the wood stove right now, it was around freezing temp in the house when I woke up this morning.

Please do keep us posted, any issues you encounter can be dealt with and all the knowledge is right here. Including lots of posts on what to do and not to do with a car that's been sitting for a long time (although it sounds like you already know quite a bit!).

[Louis]

Look's like a great find !!  Thanks for sharing the story in such fine detail. 

[MichaelB.]

Very cool!

[Ulf]

Congratulations - very spontaneous indeed!

[Dutch Pagode]

Nice find and story!!

Thanks for sharing.

Henri

[joes]

Hey there snowyt69,

With ebay and all of the other "on line" ways to buy a car it's good to see that the odd barn find still exists out there.  Great find and story.
Congrats!!
Joe.

[Peter van Es]

I'll tell you, after the rally I completed this weekend, through unpaved mud roads in the winter in Europe, my car looks worse than yours (but I do know it runs well)! Good luck.

Peter

[badali]

Post some more pictures as you get working.  The car looks like it may be very presentable after some detailing.

[snowyt 69]

Hope this works.
Had an offer to buy Snow White. Until I had it, I didn't realize she was for sale. But anything is possible.
We chose to disagree on price, so up she goes.
On axle stands. I have siphoned out the bulk of the gas. Now I will pull the plug in the tank and check the status of the fuel screen.
I have all winter, so we simply start at the beginning.

[Jordan]

What a great story.  You can't sell the car now or you will lose the story.  I see the MB emblem is missing from the hood.  Have you looked at the numbers stamped on the hood, HT and soft top yet.  The history of something always adds to the story.  Let us know how it goes over the winter, with lots of pictures.
Cheers
Marcus

[JamesL]

Fantastic story and I am sure most of us dream about! I'm jealous!!

At a guess, the front end has had a knock in the past - IIRC the battery box should be a flat black colour, not white (thus less visible through the grille)

[Ulf]

Would it be rude to ask how much you paid for it? If you wish to keep the price a secret, pls don't feel pushed by me to reveal it - I too hate when the first question people ask is "How much was it?" as if was the only measure of such a cars' many virtues...
But the (tall) tales of barn finds usually include a sobbing, old widow who knows nothing about car prices and just want to get rid of it for virtually nothing. Rumor has it that an airline pilot here in Denmark once spotted an Aston Martin DB5 and bought it from the widow for something like USD 6000 - the story is from the late 80's where the classic car market was really booming, think someone even wrote a song about it...I know I would have, had it been me :-)

Ulf

[IXLR8]

I see that you have called your car Snow White.

Reminds me of an old Mae West quote: "I used to be snow white, but I drifted."


Joe

[snowyt 69]

I found the name “Snow White” on the back of the only service invoice that came with the car. An invoice for $9.82 dated 21 August 1997 for an original Mercedes Oil Filter. Great to know the service history is up to date! Another invoice was for $11.87, dated a day later. This covered the cost of 6 liters of oil and a roofing broom. Alas, the roofing broom did not come with the car.

On the back of the oil filter invoice, printed in hand are these instructions.
TO WINTERIZE SNOW WHITE:
1) Fill gas tank
2) 2 squirts of oil in each cylinder. Replace the spark plugs. Do it one at a time!
3) Remove the battery and take it inside.
Good luck.

I thought “Snow White” was a cute name, so I’ve simply kept it.

It has been ferociously cold for this time of year where I live. Daytime highs in the minus double digits, or plus ten Farenheight if you live in the States. I am hoping the temperature moderates as they are supposed to do. Once I have dealt with the status of the gas tank, then I can crank up the space heaters and have a jolly look around.

Car first titled in Ontario on December 29th, 1981. Owner’s name was Burkhard Schoch.
Sold to June G Doherty on June 6th, 1983.
I bought it from June.

Repainted once when the motor was re-built 11 years ago. The original Mercedes white. I will check the paint codes when it warms up. Driven three summers after, then parked till now.

The only identification numbers I have thus far uncovered are the V.I.N. and the engine number.

The V.I.N. is 11304412010359.
The engine number is 13098312006602. It is stamped in the block on the driver’s side underneath the rear spark plugs. There is a plate below this riveted in place, but I can’t make out the numbers on it.

I believe what I paid for the car was commensurate with the risks involved in purchasing it in the first place. I got what I believe was a terrific buy, and if it does not cost me an arm and a leg to get the car to run, shift, stop, steer, (you know, the little things), then I have really scored big time.

No weeping widows or DB5 Aston Martin’s for five hundred Canadian. But I did okay.

I just thought she was way too pretty to be the world’s most expensive squirrel nest.

[Ulf]

Great story, please keep us posted on the progress :-)

[snowyt 69]

I have been puttering away at Snow White.

Today I pulled the drain plug on the gas tank. It is still draining as I type. I thought it would be a geyser. Truth be told, she is sort of being dainty. Who knows what to expect in these matters?
There is a picture here of Benz Doctor’s plug tool. A spark plug socket in reverse. Worked perfectly by the way. I love stuff like this. Thanks Benz Doctor.
The fuel smells not like gasoline at all. But beyond that, there is little to fear in it. I expected golf ball sized particles of rust. There are none. There was approximately 25 litres of fuel in the tank total.
The plug and screen in the pictures I hope will post are just as I have removed them. I have not cleaned the screen, the plug, anything. What you see is what I saw. I love German stuff though. A brass plug! Now that’s class!
I had thought of removing the line to the fuel pump, but there seems little point. I’m just as likely to bust something as uncover some unlikely flaw, so forget it. I’ll still take the line off under the hood and bleed it out before I attempt to start her. I don’t want even a line full of varnish in the mechanical injectors.

I have had a look at the brakes. The rotors are rusted, but only on the surface. All four wheels spin freely in my hand. I have seen worse rust on my old Honda rotors five minutes after I’d wash it.
Not to worry that the $15.00 floor jack in the pictures is the one I actually use.  It takes a serious bit of heft to get the Bus’s rotund carcass in the air.  I have a 3 and ½ ton floor jack. This is how I put things in the air. Works great.
I spent all last night cleaning the residue off the back of Snow White’s hubcaps. Brake dust and lube and who knows what else. No one will ever really notice, or perhaps even care. But I notice. I care.
I am also aware that the differential seal is leaking. I will check the fluid level and top up before driving anywhere. Put on my list.
But I suspect that I might just have bought the family Jack Russell Terrier. You know, the object of real love. Why anyone could park such a delight and simply leave it, roof down, I can only speculate.
But once upon a time, I owned a similar car. A ’66 Porsche 911. 44,000 original miles on it when I sold it in 1996. The longer I owned it, the less I drove it. It was not that I did not love it. Exactly the opposite. I loved it too much to be able to enjoy it. I believe Snow White is a similar car.
I will keep you posted.

[john.mancini]

I love barn find stories. About 25 years ago an elderly woman, who was a patient of mine, asked me if I was interested in buying her late husband's old Corvette, which had been on blocks, in their barn. He only drove it for one year! I went to look at the car that day. It was a 1953 Corvette, the first year of production. Dusty, dirty, with about 2,500 miles on it. It was all there, everything. She told me that her husband and his two brothers ordered three 1953 Corvettes when Chevrolet announced production in 1952. The two brothers were killed in 1953, driving their Corvettes! The husband never drove the Corvette again. Being VERY superstitious, I passed on the Corvette and gave the information to a major Classic Corvette Dealer in Ohio. He bought the car, sight-unseen and sold it immediately. I'll admit, I was probably a little crazy to pass on it, but I probably would have been very nervous driving it.
John

[snowyt 69]

So I shined up the gas tank plug.
Fixed the parking brake. I thought this might be major. It took me 20 minutes from start to finish.  It was out of adjustment. This is getting silly.
Merry Christmas everyone.
May all your dreams come true.

[snowyt 69]

UPDATE

Boy the Germans sure love numbers! They’re everywhere.
Snow White’s transmission is…Teil NR. 113 270 09 07.
Underneath is Aggreagal NR. 00001638.
Stamped in the rubber of the driver’s carpet is 113 68407 30.
There is a stamping on the air filter housing half the length of pi.
Numbers inside the fuel filter housing and if I’m not mistaken, a signature as well.
Decals on the glass alert me to the fact I actually own a Mercedes-Benz.
What a relief! I was beginning to think I’d bought a Saab.

But she sure is cute.

The battery is on the floor of the garage. The plate underneath is in fine shape. A few sunflower shells, but I found those in the air cleaner housing as well. No mouse carcasses to go with the food, so I’m winning.

Air filter itself is brand new and unmolested. Well it’s at least 8 years old, but the car hasn’t exactly been driven.

Fuel filter also brand new. Mercedes original. Lots of numbers.
 
The gas in the filter housing smelled way better than the guck in the tank. Stuff in the fuel filter smelled like, well, gasoline. Although brand new, the fuel filter is going to the dump. New one on order as I type.

The wheels on the car, though all of the same size, do not match. Some have numbers. Some have lots of numbers. Two are painted black. The spare is also black. Two are silver. I guess I got hosed.

I had a moment of uncertainty. I sort of thought when you put an automatic transmission in Park that the rear wheels weren’t supposed to move. I thought this was the point of Park.
Snow White’s moved, by hand.
It must be catastrophic transmission failure.
However, when I crawled under earlier to get the numbers off the transmission plate, I noticed the shift fork wasn’t exactly connected to the shift rod. What used to connect these two parts was now disintegrating into flakes of dust. I suspect these are bushings, perhaps teflon? If these things were once rubber they sure aren’t now. Anyhow, I appear closer to a couple of cheap bushings than I was to a total transmission rebuild a couple of hours ago. This looks like a Mercedes purchase of bushings though. I doubt they sell them at Wal Mart.

When I moved the shift fork (by hand), and placed it over the shift rod, I could no longer move the rear wheels. I had achieved Park.

Buoyed by all this good fortune, I went for the gusto. Snow White has been soaking a month since I bought her. So I stuck a 22 mm box end wrench on the power steering pulley and gave it a tug.
The engine turned over without a single bind.
I turned her through several revolutions.
Plugs out, not too cold, nothing there.
She spins.

Now I still have not attempted to start her. Don’t know the status of the fuel pump, the injector pump, the points and plugs and what not.
But I am thousands of dollars ahead in money, and months ahead in time to simply be where I am today.
I bought a shell of a car. A really nice, solid shell. I knew I could make her live again, given time.
I suppose in the back of my mind I thought I might be buying a car.
But really what I bought was four flat tires and a bunch of sunflower shells.
This is what I bid on.

Supposed to be plus four come the weekend. If so it is the great fluid change. Drain the rad and the block and flush it all out. Out with the oil. Drain the transmission. All of this is done cold. Not the way you want to do it, but the only way I can do it. New fluids, new battery, drain plug in the tank, fresh gas, turn the key and away we go.
My twenty bucks says she fires right up.

[Iconic]

Thank you for this great story.
It is allowing me to relive almost exactly what I experienced 2 years ago. I'm sure it is peaking the memories of many.
I don't want to rain on your parade, but you might have a little problem with the fuel pump. If so, it is a small setback given all of your successes.
I remember the first time I turned the key.
It was a glorious day.
Enjoy this ride and the ride that will follow when you are behind the wheel.

[gugel]

The car sounds great!  A word of caution:  before you try starting the car, I would take the fuel pump (the one back by the tank) apart and clean out the old gummy gasoline.  If you try starting it without doing that, you could well burn out the pump -- and they're expensive.  Ask me how I know.

Chris

[Peter van Es]

The gear lever bushings are a well known problem, and they are cheap (even from Mercedes). Look on the forum and search for gear linkage...

Peter

[snowyt 69]

Gugel/Chris

Thanks for the head’s up about the fuel pump. I will heed your sage advice and remove it/clean it before I proceed with the great first turn of the key. I had thought of doing so, but wondered if I wasn’t more likely to bust it than something be wrong with it. However, as I said, the gas that was in the rear end of Snow White was definitely not gas anymore, and there was a layer of rubberised scum on the flat section of the fuel plug below the screen. This I peeled off with a pocketknife, but should such be the case inside the fuel pump the thing would burn out before the gas even filled the fuel filter canister. On my list.
To everyone on this sight I wish to say thank you. I have motored around and answered most of my questions without having to bother anyone. I am still not adept at posting pictures, but I will figure this out as I go along. I have taken lots. I will post them when I get the method right.
The bushings I need for the shifter are not Teflon. Nylon. $5.50 each. I’m going broke!
Thanks again for all your help, direct or otherwise. Suggestions are welcome. I am listening.

[66andBlue]

Hi,
while you are at it your Snow White needs most likely four new shifter bushings (2x number 786 and 2x number 732 in the attached picture) and perhaps also number 744 although that one rarely is bad.
Keep on posting your musings about Snow White they are fun to read!